China's announcement of a retaliatory tariff on the US has capped off a "horrible week" for financial markets, according to one investment analyst who fears share prices could be dragged even lower.

“We’ve now seen $4.9 trillion wiped off the value of the global stock market since the Liberation Day speech, at the time of writing,” AJ Bell's Dan Coatsworth says.

“The rapid pullback in stocks and shares over the past few days has put a dent in people’s investments, including those in the US who were meant to have benefited from Trump’s actions," Coatsworth adds.

"Instead, his tactics have caused shockwaves in every corner of the world."

• Read more: How does it affect me if share prices fall?

Tom Gerken
Technology reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Nintendo unveiled the much-anticipated Switch 2 on Wednesday, the same day US President Donald Trump announced his raft of new global tariffs.

The gaming company said then that US pre-orders for the console would open in a matter of days. But now, it has been forced to revise its plans.

"Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the US will not start April 9, 2025 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions," it said in a statement.

Japan, where the gaming company is based, has been hit with a 24% tariff - a cost which the firm must swallow or pass onto consumers.

The company said it would update timings "at a later date", and confirmed that the 5 June launch date had not been pushed back.

There is no suggestion that pre-orders will be impacted in other countries, such as the UK.

Trump says that his global tariffs will boost the US economy and protect jobs - but Japan Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba called them a "national crisis" on Friday according to Japanese media.

Mike Wendling
Reporting from Delta, Ohio

With the markets plunging you might think that panic has spread to the Rust Belt - the vast interior region of the US where heavy industry and agriculture drive the economy.

But, in this village in the north-west corner of Ohio, many people I'm speaking to are relaxed about tariffs, if not downright positive about Donald Trump's plan.

"If tariffs bring companies and business back to hard-working American people like the ones who live here, it's worth it," says Mary Miller, manager of the Delta Candy Emporium smack in the middle of Main Street.

Delta is home to several steel businesses including one, North Star Bluescope, which has largely backed the tariff plan.

Developments in Washington and on Wall Street seem pretty remote to the people I've met here.

"Nobody's frantic. We're not going to lose any sleep over it," says Gene Burkholder, who works for an agricultural supply business.

If prices go up, "it might be short term pain for long-term gain," he tells me. As for a falling stock market, "maybe it's a good time to buy some shares while they're cheap".

While common in Delta, these sentiments are not universal across this region - there are already reports of car makers mothballing factories nearby, as others increase production or offer customer discounts.

The ultimate impact of this new trade war is likely to be uneven and uncertain, but there's little sense of panic here in north-west Ohio.

Image source, Getty Images

We have some more comments from Jerome Powell, the head of the US central bank, who says Trump's tariffs were “significantly larger than expected”.

“The same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth,” he says.

“The size and duration of these effects remain uncertain.”

The FTSE 100 has suffered the biggest one day fall since the beginning of Covid five years ago.

The UK index closed 4.9% lower - that's the biggest drop since 27 March 2020.

Natalie Sherman
New York business reporter

Image source, Getty Images

The head of the US central bank, Jerome Powell, is now speaking.

He says the US economy is still solid, noting strong hiring in March but acknowledges that there is significant uncertainty.

He also alludes to one of the bank's top concerns: that the tariffs could re-ignite concerns about inflation, which could become self-fulfilling.

"Our obligation is to keep longer-term inflation expectations well anchored and to make sure that a one-time increase in the price level does not become an ongoing inflation problem," Powell says.

"We're well-positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering any adjustments to our policy stance. It is too soon to say what will be the appropriate path."

• As a reminder, Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social account in the last 30 minutes saying now would be the "perfect time" for Powell to cut interest rates

Dearbail Jordan
Business reporter

Donald Trump has just said that now "would be a perfect time" for Jerome Powell, chair of US Federal Reserve - America's central bank - to cut interest rates.

The US Fed, as it is colloquially known, decides interest rates. Its rate-setting committee operates independently of the government.

But this hasn't stopped Trump from turning the screws on the bank or its past chairs.

During his first term, he refused to renew Janet Yellen's tenure as Fed chair, accusing the Obama-appointee of keeping borrowing costs low to boost the stock market.

Powell was appointed by Trump to replace Yellen. But don't expect that to lessen the pressure the president will put on Powell to get interest rates moving lower.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from West Palm Beach

We've just had another Truth Social post from President Trump - this time about Vietnam. In the post, Trump says he had a "very productive call" with To Lam, the General Secretary of Vietnam's Communist Party,

"[He] told me that Vietnam wants to cut their tariffs down to zero if they are able to make an agreement with the US," Trump adds. "I thanked him on behalf of our country, and said I look forward to meeting in the near future."

According to the plans unveiled by Trump earlier this week, the administration planned to hit Vietnam with 46% tariffs - among the highest on the list of nations impacted.

Earlier today, it was reported that Vietnam had asked the Trump administration to delay tariffs for three months to create space for more negotiations. A statement posted to the government's website said that Vietnam will also continue to push for more purchases from the US.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One yesterday, Trump said that "every country is calling" in response to the tariffs.

The S&P 500 index has fallen even further as the day's trading has progressed, and is now down 4.4%.

The Nasdaq has also extended losses, and is off 3.7%. Falls on the Dow Jones are pretty consistent - the index remains 2.7% lower.

• As a reminder, here's a brief explainer of the three main indexes that traders, analysts and journalists watch out for

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from West Palm Beach

Image source, Reuters

Just a short while ago, Donald Trump arrived at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, where he's scheduled to play golf - his favourite weekend pastime

As we reported earlier, Trump has no public events on his schedule today, except an invitation-only candlelight dinner inside his Mar-a-Lago estate in the evening. That, for now, is closed to the press.

As things stand, we're unlikely to hear from Trump directly today, although he's been active on Truth Social so far this morning - hitting back at China's move to introduce retaliatory tariffs and telling investors, "my policies will never change".

Trump's arrival at the golf course comes as US markets tumble, doing little to assuage the fears of those concerned about the impact of tariffs on the US and global economy.

Image source, Getty Images

Before the US stock market reopened today, Wall Street banking giant JP Morgan said it now sees a 60% chance of the global economy entering recession by the end of the year.

This has soared up from the investment bank's previous prediction of 40%, which it announced on 12 March.

"Disruptive US policies have been recognized as the biggest risk to the global outlook all year," Bruce Kasman, chief economist and head of global economic research at JPMorgan, said in Bloomberg., external

"The latest news reinforces our fears as US trade policy has turned decisively less business-friendly than we had anticipated."

Faisal Islam
Economics editor

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

The era of cheap goods that we've seen over the last couple of decades appears to be over for the American consumer. We expect higher tariffs to automatically pass through to inflation and higher prices.

From what we hear, the White House asked retailers not to put up prices. There are also suggestions that US retailers that source from China, for example, have been hauled up in front of the Chinese authorities when they try to pass on the tariff rises to their Chinese suppliers.

It's easy to tell people what to do but they're certainly not going to make any profits - they'll probably make losses and that will be reflected in the share price.

There are all sorts of unintended consequences here. Sometimes you can't go anywhere else in terms of the supplies that you need.

The tariff on Madagascar, for example, is really important for producers that require imports of vanilla. That's a very, very small issue but you multiply that by 1,000, by 10,000, by 100,000 and all these things that would be imported now face quite punitive tariffs in the double digits.

Then there are the logistics: Can you really re-orientate and change your supply chain so quickly?

The US has benefited from cheaper goods from overseas, at the expense of losing manufacturing jobs. But, now they want the manufacturing jobs back, it’s difficult to see how the price and inflationary situation will stay benign.

Before the US stock market opened, US President Donald Trump posted positive reaction to a stronger than expected job market report which showed US employers added 228,000 jobs last month.

"Great job numbers, far better than expected," Trump wrote on his Truth Social account. "It’s already working. Hang tough, we can’t lose!!!"

In another recent and separate statment the White House press secretary pointed to job growth areas in transportation.

"The president's push to onshore jobs here in the United States is working," Karoline Leavitt said.

• Read more: The jobs market in the US stayed strong last month but will this reassure markets?

What is the chance of a global recession?published at 15:17 British Summer Time 4 April

15:17 BST 4 April

Dharshini David
Deputy economics editor

The hundreds of billions wiped off shares of companies such as Apple and Nike this week demonstrate the possible damage to the economies they source from.

It’s nations the like of Vietnam and Cambodia, which have built their prosperity in recent decades on becoming go-to places for affordable goods, which are likely to see the biggest economic damage.

This is not to say that a global recession is an any way certain. Trade of goods is only one part of a complex global economy.

But with China now retaliating, growth in most major nations seems set for a blow. This comes just as countries were putting a series of shocks, from Covid to the Ukraine war, behind them

The inital falls across the three main US indexes have already deepened. The Nasdaq is now down 3.3%, the S&P 500 is 3.1% lower and the Dow Jones is off 2.7%.

Are we in "crash" territory yet? By one measure, the Nasdaq is in what traders traditionally call "bear" territory which means that it is trading 20% lower than its most recent peak.

That index, which tracks lots of technology companies, is now trading 20% below a high it reached in December.

• Read our explainer on the US markets and the three main indexes here

Dearbail Jordan
Business reporter

Image source, Reuters

As we've been reporting, the US stock exchange has opened sharply lower. The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 have each fallen 2.4% in the first minutes of US trading, while the Nasdaq is down 3%.

So - what does this mean?

When it comes to US markets, there are three main indexes that traders, analysts and journalists watch.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a list of 30 big US companies. They are considered to be “blue chip” stocks which means they have a solid track record in terms of their financial performance.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index – or, as it is better known, the S&P 500 – tracks the share prices of 500 companies. For some, it provides a much better cross-section of businesses listed in the US.

The Nasdaq index is made up of about 3,500 companies and the majority of those are technology firms. So when you see tech stocks shooting high or plummeting low, you’ll see plenty of coverage of the Nasdaq.

Meanwhile, Trump publishes a flurry of posts on his Truth Social account, with his latest one hitting back at China's move to slap retaliatory tariffs on the US.

"China played it wrong, they panicked," Trump says. "The one thing they cannot afford to do!"

As a reminder, China said it would retaliate with an additional 34% tax on US goods from next week after Trump announced a raft of global tariffs.

China's finance ministry said the US tariffs on Chinese products are "not in line with international trade rules".

Faisal Islam
Economics editor

Image source, Getty Images

The US markets have just opened sharply lower. I'm not at all surprised.

There is the cliché about uncertainty: you can't get much more uncertainty than something like this.

Added to that, it's an uncertainty about a policy - not a hurricane or an earthquake or a bank collapse.

He went as big as some of the markets feared, and bigger in some ways.

The New York stock exchange is now open for business and the index is down again.

The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 have each fallen 2.4% in the first minutes of US trading.

The Nasdaq is down 3%.

We'll bring you further updates as we get them.

Natalie Sherman
New York business reporter

The Labor Department has just published its closely watched monthly report that estimates job creation in the US.

Employers added 228,000 jobs in March. That’s way more than the 140,000 that many analysts had expected.

However, the unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4.2%, from 4.1% last month.

If the job market stays strong, recession fears could abate. But many analysts said investors were likely to dismiss this number as a snapshot of a different world.

“Today’s better than expected jobs report will help ease fears of an immediate softening in the US labour market," Lindsay Rosner, head of multi sector fixed income investing at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, wrote in a note.

"However, this number has become a side dish with the market just focusing on the entrée: tariffs.”